Maura Clarke

Maura Clarke, MM (January 13, 1931 – December 2, 1980), was an American Maryknoll sister who served as a missionary in Nicaragua and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and refugees in Central America from 1959 until her murder in 1980. On December 2, 1980, she was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries — Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan — by members of the military of El Salvador.

Maura Clarke M.M.
Born	Mary Elizabeth Clarke (1931-01-13)January 13, 1931 Queens, New York
Died	December 2, 1980(1980-12-02) (aged 49) El Salvador
Cause of death	Murder by military death squad
Resting place	Chalatenango, El Salvador
Nationality	American
Occupation	Maryknoll Missionary Sister
Parent(s)	John and Mary Clarke

Murder

Main article: 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador

See also

• Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic
• Death squad
• Los Horcones massacre
• CECIM

Further reading

• A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sr. Maura, Eileen Markey, NationBooks 2016.
• Hearts on Fire: The Story of the Maryknoll Sisters, Penny Lernoux, et al., Orbis Books, 1995.
• Ita Ford: Missionary Martyr, Phyllis Zagano, Paulist Press, 1996.
• The Same Fate As the Poor, Judith M. Noone, Orbis Books, 1995. ISBN 1-57075-031-9
• Witness of Hope: The Persecution of Christians in Latin America, Martin Lange and Reinhold Iblacker, Orbis Books, 1981.

External links

• Ford v. Garcia Trial Background. Legal history section of PBS website on "Justice and the Generals" presentation in 2002. Accessed October 7, 2005.
• The Maura Clarke – Ita Ford Center of Brooklyn, New York.
• Martyrdom in El Salvador Maryknoll Sisters website. Accessed October 7, 2005.
• Plant a Tree in Ita Ford's Memory Memorial program in El Salvador in honor of the four churchwomen; accessed December 9, 2006.
• Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador (1993) accessed online December 9, 2006.